Newsletter

Clarke, Oconee schools announce snow makeup day plans

Road conditions begin to improve on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2014, in Athens, Ga after the region was struck by a winter storm that brought snow and ice. (Richard Hamm/Staff) OnlineAthens / Athens Banner-Herald

School officials in Clarke and Oconee counties have announced tentative plans for making up days lost in two winter storms this year.

Oconee students lost six days of instruction when schools were closed in late January and again in February because of snowy or icy roads. Clarke students lost five.

Subject to formal approval by the Clarke County Board of Education, Clarke students won’t have to make up any of the lost days. But employees will have to make up two of the five days lost, according to school officials.

Clarke teachers will work two more days at the end of the school year, and year-round employees will have to work the Friday of spring break and another day.

Employees won’t have to make up the three other days because “employees already work well beyond normal business hours,” according to an announcement from Clarke County Superintendent Philip Lanoue.

Oconee students will make up two of the lost days if the Oconee Board of Education approves Oconee County Superintendent Jason Branch’s plan. One of Oconee’s lost days has already been made up, on Feb. 18, and students will make up another day on March 14, a day initially scheduled to be a teacher work day and a student holiday.

Students won’t have to make up the other four days, and employees will work with their supervisors to make up the days they missed, according to an announcement posted on the Oconee County School District website.

Under state law and a resolution passed by the state Board of Education last week, school districts don’t have to make up the lost days, but can choose to make up some or all of them.